SONIC WAVES…David Gogo/David Gogo

Out of British Columbia came David Gogo’s self titled debut back in March of 1994 and man what a story to track down this album!

So that cold March week of 1994 me and Tbone were on a road trip to see 3 NHL games Rangers(my team) Habs ( Tbones ) and the San Jose Sharks( no ones team) anyways during the day we scoured record stores in Winnipeg as they had so much more to offer than what was here in Tbay. So one day over beers and burgers Tbone tells me that he seen on Muchmusic this real cool guitar rock guy who had a pretty happening song out at the time but Tbone did not catch the name of it or the artist name as well after the video was done and he didn’t see the vid again so……We accept this challenge! And so it began back to the record stores going from A- Z seeing if anything would ring Tbones Noggin. Nope nothin this was driving Tbone nuts,hahaha,I never seen him so Hell bent on tracking down a artist and of course we were stockpiling a bunch of releases on the way as well! I remember picking up a bunch of Cheap Trick as it was no pun Cheap! But Tbone as well picked up a ton of CDs as well but he said he wasn’t leaving the Peg until he found out who this guitar guy was…..

I think it was the next day after more beer/burgers that we redid the record store circuit and we entered one store can’t remember the name of it and as soon a Tbones shoes hit the inside of the record store he bee lined straight to the counter(left me in the dust!) I thought someone cracked open a bottle of Scotch as I had never seen Tbone zip that quick in years! The record store was playing the Gogo album in house! Talk about luck!

‘DEKE!!!’ Said T ..”this is it!” And there was the elusive album that took 2 days tons of walking,numerous record store return visits,beer and burger consumption and we had it ….David Gogo is the name and making a corker of a debut album was his game!

Let me tell ya all about it……

WESTERN COAST-Gogo nails down the opening track on his steel guitar solo with some real cool slide and it just rips right into ….

DEEP END – this is the song that Tbone heard and was drooling over and this is Gogo rocking the Fort with his strat! He’s taking us off the Deep End! For a young guy at the time of its release in 1994 Gogo sounds beyond his years! Like a seasoned vet! 2 songs in 2 keepers!

BULLETPROOF VEST- Dave fills out his sound on the debut with the Hammond B3 filling out the drums and bass and Yep its all mixed below Daves strat! That my guitar loving friends is cranked and cranked good! Love the end of this tune where Gogo just kicks the tune into overdrive and blasts it right off the rails with his soloing!

MOVIN ON- Daves headed out and Movin and Groovin along this song just trucks along and great rock n blues speed! Cool sonics with the guitar and the verses have some real cool funky strat! And he even foots the bill with some ladies doing the backing vocals! The drummer gets in the action with some cool fills!

SOMEHOW-the drums set the pace for this tune! It’s time for Gogo to chillax and take a breather and come back off the Deep End so to speak! Dave as a guitar toys with the guitar tones on this album so yeah man he’s got the chops!

ITS MY FAULT-hey Aaron it’s the BB King cover(I never heard the original) but David plays some serious blues guitar on this track for the first minute and twenty! The crazy thing if I didn’t have the credits to this disc I would have thought it was his own tune! All in all over 7 minutes of dripping Blues!

PLAY THE BLUES-cool opening riff with Dave just playing cool rock guitar! Back to regular business with Gogo playing some slippy slidey guitar! The song tells the tale of Dave making the show to play the blues!

LEARNED THE HARD WAY-Gogo rocks it off the hop with different rhythms and textures on his guitar plus he gets into some real cool action in the solo as it’s just him and the bass and it’s soooooo fuckin good!

THE SLIP- ok story time! Me and Tbones junk garage band Current River opened for Gogo locally here in Tbay in August of 94! Gogo played 3 nights me and Tbone were there all 3 nights! Anyways the first night we were the opening act and with me and Tbone fully entrenched into the Gogo album at that time we were kinda nervous about playing that Blues cover tune Mary Had A Little Lamb that Stevie Ray Vaughn brought to the masses on his Texas Flood release! Me and Tbone did not feel comfortable playing this song in front of Gogo as he was watching our set back by the the pinball machine so we told our guitarist who I won’t publically say his name so we will call him the Angry Spainard who refused our request and had no idea Gogo was and we did it anyways…I wanted to puke!

Gogo though was real cool after we talked to him and he signed our CDs( once I told him my name was Derek, he said as in the Dominos)and was real chill with no attitude and I told him that my fav tune was the Slip! So when Gogo started his second set he told us all from the stage “this ones for Derek and the Dominos!” I howled,Tbone howled and the Angry Spainard had no fuckin clue what just happened! So yeah it’s a personal fav….

The song The Slip is about a chick duping David but he figures out pretty soon he’s getting the Slip! Great solo …..

YOU ARE HERE-Gogo rolls out more acoustic and this song just rocks with real cool drums and vocals! Dudes voice sounds so much older but man he sounds like a seasoned vet and this is his debut! Cool song cool picking action!

THIS TIME – was his opening song for all 3 nights and it rocks! On the album he has a ton of Hammond b3 ripping in the background to fill out his sound on the album but the live show it was him and two cronies on bass and drums and man they could hold down the fort as well! Gogo told us that he opened a few shows for Joe Satriani in the States(I think) but this tune is super charged and straight ahead blues rock! It’s a great Song! For a added bonus the backing chics on vocals are back.

CRAWLING BACK TO YOU- reminds me of a ZZ Top driving song just without ZZs synth! It’s Gogo bidding adieu and man this song is a real great finish to a classic guitar rock album!

IN CONCLUSION- Gogos debut was worth the hunt and for me and Tbone,mission accomplished! In our little humble rock abode in Tbay Dave probably has no idea what a classic he released to us ! Thanks man!

So if you were wondering about the Hockey Games! Well,both of our teams(Rangers/Habs) lost! San Jose destroyed the Jets! But we still had a good time!

Too be honest I bought a few of his albums after this but for me it’s the debut! Yeah I guess i should have gotten him to sign it Deke! Sorry for the confusion fellas! The funny thing is I think Tbone. Has called me Derek twice in the last 20 yrs and when he does it sounds weird!?..Hahahaha…..
Didn’t even know he had a son out touring…just like dad!

Sorry, been trying to catch up on the Deke reviews since falling off the map during the lead up to the holidays. Had to chime in for this one though. Deke your memory is definitely better than mine, but best I can tell you nailed this one. Opening for Gogo and hanging with him at Crocks is definitely a highlight in my humble life. Awesome job!!